Frustration, Secondary Options Killing The Cavs

The good news is the Cleveland Cavaliers have done an outstanding job defending Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, holding them to a total of 55 points combined in the first two games of the NBA Finals.

The bad news is everyone else wearing a Golden State uniform seems to be scoring at will.

Shaun Livingston has made all but three of the 14 shots he has taken. Leandro Barbosa? He has hit 10 of 12 shots from the floor.

Draymond Green, a career 34% shooter from three point range, although he did hit 39% this season, has made exactly half of his 14 attempts from beyond the arc in this series.

Despite the “Splash Brothers” hitting just 21 of their 51 field goal attempts (41.2%), the Warriors have knocked down 52% of their shots from the field.

That means everyone else is incredibly hot.

It probably won’t continue, but then again, neither will the struggles of the Western Conference champions top two scorers.

To compound Cleveland’s issues containing Golden State’s offense, the red hot shooting the Cavs showed throughout the playoffs has disappeared, with the wine and gold hitting just 37% from the floor.

That’s a good recipe for being down 0-2 in a seven game series.

On the other hand, it’s a seven game series, not three, so it’s not over yet, and if Tyronn Lue’s bunch can somehow defend their home court, it would be a best of three affair.

The lack of fouls called on the Warriors seems to have frustrated Cleveland, which sounds ridiculous because the Cavs have out shot their opponents in this series at the line, getting 44 attempts vs. 20 for Steve Kerr’s crew.

There are two issues with this.

First, Cleveland isn’t playing close enough defense on anyone to draw a foul.

Second, we believe that the Warriors are taking a page out of history, drawing on the mid-90’s New York Knicks, coached by Pat Riley, for their defensive philosophy.

Our observation is that if you bring the ball into the paint against Golden State, you will get fouled. The philosophy is the officials will not call every foul, or the games will last four hours, so if you hit someone every time, it simply won’t be called.

We have been watching basketball for a long time, and there is no way that every time the ball comes free inside that it is a clean play.

There was a picture that appeared on social media from Sports Illustrated’s web site showing Kevin Love being defended by Green, whose hand is clearly on Love’s wrist.

We don’t care how “tough” you are, it is virtually impossible to make an offensive move with the ball in your hand and your wrist in someone else’s.

Why the NBA is overlooking this? We have no answer. But that is why we don’t believe the Cavs “quit” on Sunday, it was simply frustration.

Think about playing a game where you are constantly fouled. You get mad and it’s tough to play.

This isn’t to say the Warriors aren’t a good defensive team. Their quickness at pretty much every position allows them to protect the paint and recover to cover shooters.

They are given some liberties in terms of reaching, grabbing, and slapping, particularly inside and near the basket.

There is no question the Cavs need to play better and shoot better. And they have to overcome the frustration with the lack of calls they are getting when they attack the basket.

A loss tomorrow night virtually ends the season. Lue and James will make sure everyone else knows that.

Youth Is Served: Lindor, Ramirez Are Pacing Tribe Attack

The Cleveland Indians completed the first third of its schedule last night with a 7-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

It gave the Tribe their 30th win of the season, putting them on a pace to win 90 games this season. We would say that would give them a pretty good shot at their first playoff appearance since 2013.

Terry Francona’s club does have the third best ERA in the American League, which is kind of expected because this squad is built around their pitching staff, particularly the starting rotation.

The surprise is the Indians rank 4th in the AL in runs scored per game, and they have done it without Michael Brantley, who has played just 11 games this season.

Despite the veteran acquisitions over the winter, signing Mike Napoli, Rajai Davis, and Juan Uribe, the offense is being led by two kids, 22-year-old Francisco Lindor, and 23-year-old Jose Ramirez.

This is not to minimize Napoli’s presence in the middle of the order. He is on pace to belt 30 home runs and knock in over 100, something the Tribe has lack since the days of Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez.

And by the way, Napoli has more RBIs right now than the man everyone wanted the Indians to trade for in the off-season, the White Sox’ Todd Frazier.

But we digress.

It was expected that Lindor would be a key to the 2016 Indians, but most people figured he would have a slight decline offensively, since his big league numbers far exceeded his hitting stats in the minors.

We have been preaching about how special the shortstop is since his minor league days, and it appears he is one of those athletes who gets better when the lights are brighter.

The switch-hitter is batting .308 (804 OPS) with 5 HRs and 26 RBI and it seems he provides a sparkling defensive play each and every night. And his enthusiasm for the game is contagious.

Even at 22, he is an unquestioned leader on this ballclub.

He has now played 152 games at the big league level and has a .311 batting average, with 17 HR and 77 RBI (824 OPS).

And he should get even better.

The folks in the front office at Carnegie and Ontario should be thinking of tying his guy up for a long, long time, because his price tag goes up each and every day.

Ramirez is the bigger surprise, since he figured to be a utility player once the regular season started. The injury to Brantley put him in an everyday role, and he has flourished.

Also, a switch-hitter, JRam struggled last year playing shortstop, which is not his natural position. He was hitting under .200 and not making the routine plays defensively.

This year, he has made the step up, playing everyday at either LF or 3B, he’s hitting .317 with an 846 OPS, and is among the top ten in the AL in on base percentage at .387.

And at 23, you have to figure he will get better as well.

This isn’t to minimize others contributions to the Indians’ early success. Josh Tomlin is 8-1, Danny Salazar has become one of the AL’s best starters, we have talked about Napoli, and Jason Kipnis has played, like, well, Jason Kipnis.

The catalysts, at least offensively, have been Lindor and Ramirez.

And with guys like Bradley Zimmer, Clint Frazier (hitting over .300 in the pitching rich Eastern League), Giovanny Urshela, Mike Clevinger, etc., the Cleveland Indians are poised to make some noise in the American League.

That includes this season.

Lue’s Plan Worked, But Others Got Hot

It is always funny to read social media postings during a sporting event in Cleveland, most notably because the default in this area for many is that when the team loses, the coach or manager did a bad job.

Going into last night’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Cavs’ coach Tyronn Lue obviously wanted to limit the open looks of the Golden State Warriors’ two best offensive players: Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

Sounds like a good plan, right? To be sure, Warriors’ coach Steve Kerr probably wants to make it difficult for LeBron James and Kyrie Irving too.

Well, Lue’s blueprint worked out. Curry and Thompson were held to just 20 points, on a combined 8 for 27 shooting night. For the most part, there weren’t a lot of open looks for these two.

However, we are sure that the Cavs’ coaching staff did not figure on the trio of Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and Leandro Barbosa going a combined 18 for 24 from the field, scoring a combined total of 43 points.

Those three averaged 19.7 points per game together in the regular season, and in the playoffs they were averaging 22 points per night.

So, they basically doubled what they did in the post-season last night.

While, Lue’s plan was sound, but the results don’t show it because those three players off the Golden State bench had extraordinary nights.

And while Curry can come to the post-game press conference and talk about the difference their bench makes, the numbers show they don’t usually make that kind of impact on a game.

On the other hand, Iguodala seems to see a Cleveland uniform and turns into a combination of J.J. Redick and Kyle Korver. He is a career 33% shooter from three point range, but in the seven playoff games vs. the Cavs, he has made 16 out of 39%, more than 40%.

It didn’t help that Cleveland shot poorly either, making just 38% of their field goal attempts, with a lot of misses right at the rim. Is that great defense? In some cases, yes, but the wine and gold shooters missed some clean looks around the basket as well.

The Warriors seemed to play a lot of attention to JR Smith and Channing Frye, two of the hottest Cavs from behind the three point line. The two combined to take just four shots and score five points.

Lue and his staff have to figure out a way to get them some open looks, although both players appeared to be a little passive as well.

Cleveland also got away from the ball movement they have displayed throughout the playoffs, totaling just 17 assists last night, nine by James.

Lue attributed the isolation style of play to the Warriors’ switching defense, but there can be a happy medium with good ball movement with some one-on-one play mixed in.

Let’s not forget that the Cavaliers had a one point lead late in the third quarter, before Livingston started the fourth quarter with a flurry. So, it wasn’t exactly domination by Golden State since the tipoff.

There is no doubt Curry and Thompson will shoot better going forward, but it is also likely the Warriors will not get this kind of production from their subs.

The Cavs will also shoot better.

We have always felt that until the seventh game, the even numbered contests are most important, and this is no different.

The Warriors can take a commanding lead with a win on Sunday, while the Cavs can get right back in it, and steal home court from Kerr’s team.

Cleveland didn’t lose the series last night. There is a long way to go. But it will the route will get shorter with another loss on Sunday.

The Ultimate Challenge For Cavs

Earlier in the year, when both the national media and local scribes and broadcasters seemed obsessed with the Golden State Warriors, we told people to stop comparing the Cleveland Cavaliers with the defending champs, because they were doing something off the charts.

Our opinion was that the only time Cavs’ fans needed to think about the Warriors was if and when the wine and gold meet Golden State in the NBA Finals.

That day is now here. The Cavaliers will be in Oakland Thursday night to begin The Finals after the Warriors eliminated Oklahoma City in a hard fought seven game series.

As you would imagine for a team that won a league record 73 regular season games, the Warriors don’t have any glaring weaknesses.

They are the top three point shooting team in the NBA, the top shooting team regardless of distance, and are in the top five (4th) in rebounding.

Defensively, they rank 1st in defensive field goal percentage against the three point shot, and third in all shots.

Perhaps a reason for that is many teams trying to play the Warriors game, something we don’t believe will work in the long run. We understand Tyronn Lue wants the Cavs to play with pace, but we think the wine and gold will play faster than last year, but they will want to control the tempo.

One thing the Cavaliers have to do defensively is not leave Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson alone. The players defending those two can absolutely not leave them to play help defense.

That duo take 19.3 three point shots per game. And for all the hype about Golden State’s reliance on the long range shot, those two are the only players who average more than 3.5 threes per game.

Cleveland has five such players (JR Smith, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, Channing Frye, and LeBron James), meaning Golden State has to honor the long range shooting of many, not just a few.

When the Cavs defeated the Warriors last season in the regular season at The Q, then coach David Blatt said they knew Golden State was going to take three point shots, but they wanted them to be taken by players other than Curry and Thompson.

It didn’t work in The Finals because Andre Iguodala shot the long ball like he never has in his life.

However, we would still try to chase Golden State shooters off of the line and force them to come inside and take two point shots.

As for the “Splash Brothers”, you have to pick them up as soon as they cross half-court, and hope either Draymond Green and/or Andrew Bogut don’t set one of their famed moving screens to get either player free.

We believe Lue may have to forsake his mantra about not complaining about officials to draw attention to this tactic that was used last year in the championship round, and now most coaches see the same thing.

Golden State’s defensive rankings are very good, but it helps if you can put pressure defensively on Curry, and Kyrie Irving can do that.

However, in saying that, we don’t want to see the one-on-one play that comes when Irving is play iso-ball.

Cleveland needs to move the ball, and when Irving gets it with Curry guarding him, he has to attack.

The Cavs also have to exploit the Warriors lack of size when they go to their small lineup. None of those players can handle LeBron James in the post, so Cleveland needs to go to him to force Steve Kerr’s hand.

There is no question this is the toughest test yet for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They have to go through the defending champs, and they will have to win at least one game on the road to bring home a title.

Let the series begin on Thursday!

Tribe In First, But Bullpen Is A Concern.

It is Memorial Day weekend, the quarter pole for the major league baseball season, and the Cleveland Indians sit in first place in the American League Central Division standings.

They are also just two games away from having the best mark in the AL, as the Seattle Mariners, who have the junior circuit’s top record, are at 28-19.

Terry Francona’s club has done this pretty much without Michael Brantley, who has played just 11 games, and with Carlos Carrasco, arguably the Tribe’s best pitcher, out for a month.

Cleveland ranks 2nd in the league in runs scored, and is fifth in the AL in ERA. This means there hasn’t been any luck involved, the Indians are a legitimate contender, just as we thought before the season started.

The biggest area of concern (yes, social media folks, you can be supportive of the team and have concerns) is the bullpen, particularly the Tribe’s set up guys, Zack McAllister and Bryan Shaw.

Cody Allen has had outings that make us nervous too, but mostly because he loses the strike zone at times. He is 11 for 11 in save opportunities.

First, McAllister. Before yesterday’s mop up appearance with a six run lead in Baltimore, the big right-hander allowed runs in each of his last three appearances. And in May, he has come into the game 10 times, and allowed a run in five of those games.

That’s 50% for you sabermetric guys. Also, that’s not good.

He made 11 appearances in April, and allowed a run in just one game.

Shaw has been one of the American League’s best late inning guys over the past three seasons.

He is like the proverbial little girl with the curl, when he is good, he is very good, but when he’s not…aye, aye, aye.

First, we don’t like relievers who allow home runs. Shaw has allowed five dingers in 20 innings of work this season.

If he keeps the ball in the yard, Shaw is tremendous. He’s only had one game this year where he allowed a run without giving up a bomb (April 24th vs. Detroit).

In our opinion, he allows too many homers to be an elite set up man.

Only five AL relievers have allowed more long balls than Shaw this season, and three of them (Steve Geltz, TB, Shawn Tolleson, TEX, and Tom Wilhelmsen, TEX) have been sent to the minor leagues.

A fourth, Chasen Shreve of the Yankees, is on the disabled list.

Shaw gives up too many homers. Remember, he gave up 8 last season in 64 innings. Francona needs a better option in a one or two run game.

The Tribe has lost 21 games this season. In six of those losses, they have had the lead or were tied after six innings. In two other games, they rallied to tie up a game, only to lose on a walk off hit.

That’s eight late game losses. Give the Indians a split in those games, and they sit at 30-17 and have the AL’s best record.

We hope the front office is out there trying to upgrade this part of the the team.

In the meantime, it wouldn’t kill Francona to try some other options late in games. Perhaps Dan Otero (0.95 ERA in 19 innings–no HR allowed) or Austin Adams, who pitched three scoreless games since his recall.

We know Tito likes to give veterans the benefit of the doubt, but we believe the American League will be so tightly contested this season, that a couple of games could be the difference in making the playoffs or going home after game 162.

Defense Keys Game 5 Win For Cavs

Our first thought at the beginning of last night’s game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals was why can’t the Cleveland Cavaliers play defense like this all the time?

It was that stifling approach on that end of the floor that led to a 116-78 blowout victory by the wine and gold at Quicken Loans Arena, and gives Cleveland an opportunity to earn a trip to the NBA Finals Friday night in Toronto.

Tyronn Lue did some different things defensively, mainly having his guards come over screens instead of behind them, and blitzing the pick and roll more often. The latter strategy was used in the comeback that fell short in game four.

Obviously, the success then showed the coaching staff it would work.

And while many are attributing the victory to Kevin Love’s aggressiveness on the offensive end of the floor, make no mistake, it was the defensive effort by the Cavs that put them one game away from a second consecutive appearance in The Finals.

Lue will have to have the team prepared to counter the adjustments Dwayne Casey will make to free up his all-star backcourt duo of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, because he knows if they aren’t scoring, the Raptors don’t have much of a chance.

Part of the defensive improvement was the activity of Tristan Thompson, who looked like he was tired of being chewed up by Bismack Biyombo. Thompson had two offensive rebounds in the first couple of minutes, and Cleveland scored both times off the extra possession.

Offensively, Love’s effectiveness was a big help, and it was interesting to note that he started his night making a post move to score his first hoop, and worked his way out. That’s his preferred mode of getting going with his shot.

LeBron James played facilitator last night, setting up all of his teammates for easy looks.

Everyone is looking for that game when James takes total control in terms of the scoring, and tomorrow night could be the night. We can see him coming out and taking the ball to the basket early and often, and coming up with a 35 point night to take pressure off his teammates.

Toronto is going to be playing with desperation, if they lose, their season is over. But James is preaching the same thing all post-season for the Cavaliers. He has stated over and over that nine wins, ten wins, etc. isn’t the goal. It’s 16 wins, and they aren’t there yet.

So, don’t expect another blowout win and don’t be surprised if both teams are back here Sunday night for a seventh and deciding game.

Still, it would be better for the blood pressure of the entire wine and gold fandom if the Cavaliers finished the series in six games.

As well as Cleveland has played at “The Q”, when you play one game for all the marbles, anything can happen. Something like D’Marre Carroll getting hot from behind the three point line or Biyombo making 15 foot jump shots.

Let’s not forget what a huge win it was last night, though. It was really the first time in this post-season that Lue’s crew faced a must win situation.

They passed the test with flying colors.

Cavs’ Warts Showing Up Again

How short is the memory of Cleveland Cavaliers’ fans?

Have they forgotten that the Toronto Raptors won one less game in the regular season than the wine and gold?

This is the Eastern Conference Finals. It’s not supposed to be easy. And the Cavs and Raptors were the two best teams in the East for the entire season.

Thinking Cleveland was going to cakewalk to The Finals is shortsighted and is probably the reason for the angst that fans have this morning after the 105-99 loss to Canada’s darlings.

A few of the things we were concerned about before the series started have reared their ugly heads in the contests played up north.

That doesn’t mean these things can’t be corrected, and quite frankly, until the Cavs lose the home court advantage or there is a seventh game of the series, we will not go into panic mode.

In the first two games, the Raptors were concerned about the three point shooting of the Cavs, so they extended their defense, and Tyronn Lue’s club made a parade to the basket, including an array of dunks.

Toronto closed off the paint at home, and Cleveland hasn’t been as proficient from distance as they were against Detroit and Atlanta.

Lue has to come up with a counter, and maybe he did by playing Channing Frye at center in the fourth quarter, which drew Bismack Biyombo away from the hoop.

It’s simple, if the long range shots aren’t falling, you have to try something else, and you need to attack the basket. And we aren’t talking about driving one on four like Kyrie Irving has time and again over the past two games.

The bigger issue in the last two games has been the defense, particularly on the Raptors’ all-star backcourt combination of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.

The Cavs seem to be going behind the screen on Lowry, allowing him open looks on three point shots, while DeRozan’s mid-range game has JR Smith and LeBron James on their heels consistently.

Perhaps blitzing the pick and roll more often, like Cleveland did early in the fourth quarter, should be the plan. Let the offensive burden be more on DeMarre Carroll, Patrick Patterson, etc.

Also, Tristan Thompson has not been effective keeping Biyombo off the boards.

The media narrative is that Kevin Love is killing the Cavs defensively, because he is always the reason the wine and gold lose, right? We don’t see any evidence that Luis Scola and/or Patrick Patterson doing damage offensively.

Think about last night’s fourth quarter. Cleveland scored on 11 straight possessions, but the reason the Cavs could get no more than a three point lead was the inability to stop the Raptors on the defensive end.

A few stops at that time, and we are talking about a 3-1 series lead.

The Cavaliers simply have to do a better job slowing down Lowry and DeRozan, and then limiting the Raptors to one shot.

It sounds simple, but the defense must get better, and the offense can’t settle for the long range shot. Attack the basket and get to the foul line.

One more thing that was striking about last night’s comeback attempt in the fourth quarter. The offense was running through James and Matthew Dellavedova.

This isn’t to say Delly is better than Kyrie Irving, but the latter seems to be in his “try to do everything himself” mode at times.

A victory tomorrow night will ease the panic and put Toronto in a position to be eliminated.

It is true that the Cavs haven’t been able to win in Canada, but the same is true about the Raptors at The Q.

One Loss Shouldn’t Cause Concern

You really didn’t think the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to go 16-0 in the playoffs, did you?

That is why the Cavs’ 99-84 loss to Toronto last night doesn’t have us wringing our hands with despair.

After all, Cleveland still has a 2-1 series edge, and they didn’t do anything as damaging as losing the home court advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The wine and gold shot 35.4% from the field in game three, and we believe most teams that shoot as poorly from the floor as Tyronn Lue’s squad did, would come to the same fate.

It is well documented that Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love shot a combined 4 for 28 from the floor last night, and we would bet that won’t happen again during the rest of the playoffs, let alone this series.

The Raptors were playing their first conference finals game in the history of the franchise, and they were up to the challenge, and their fans were rightfully excited for the team’s premier foray to the NBA’s final four.

There was a lot of emotion in the building and the Cavaliers didn’t diffuse it early in the game.

Love missed some shots early and seemed hesitant to be more active offensively, and Irving missed some contested drives to the hoop in the first quarter as well, but he seemed to take the Raptors’ bait, and continued to try to get to the basket by going through four Toronto players instead of moving the ball and letting someone else have open looks.

“Bad” Kyrie made his first appearance of the playoffs.

However, we will write this off as one bad game, and after the dominance the Cavs have displayed for most of the post-season, they are entitled to a off night.

Now, it’s Tyronn Lue who has to make some adjustments instead of trying to come up with counters to what he thinks the opponent will come up with.

We would guess Lue will try to get Irving and Love some easy looks early, so they can get the taste of game three out of their mouths as early as possible. No doubt, LeBron James will help provide them with those looks.

Defensively, the wine and gold need to slow down DeMar DeRozan early. He had his mid-range game going in the first half, although JR Smith was in good position defensively for many of those attempts.

As for Bismack Biyombo, who had the game of his life Saturday night with 26 rebounds, Lue said it best. The Cavs’ coach said the Raptor big man had a lot of boards because Cleveland missed a lot of shots.

However, they need to continue to make open shots difficult for Kyle Lowry and Terrence Ross, because if either can get their three point shot down, it could make game four a difficult proposition.

To be blunt, the Raptors played perhaps their best game of the playoffs and the Cavaliers played their worst, and the outcome was still in doubt halfway through the fourth quarter.

And even if Toronto can hold serve and win Monday night, two of the next three games will be at Quicken Loans Arena.

Relax, it’s the playoffs. It’s not supposed to as easy as it has been thus far.

LeBron James and his crew will play better in game four. And Irving and Love will not shoot 14% for the entire game.

Is The Tribe Bullpen A Liability?

Before the season started, and we predicted an AL Central Division title for the Cleveland Indians, one of our reservations was the bullpen.

Was it good enough to put the Tribe over the top.

Watching the games unfold, the relief corps has sprung its share of leaks.

Early in the year, Bryan Shaw was knocked around like a pinata, and you had to wonder if the heavy workload he has had over the past three seasons had caught up to him.

Cody Allen gave up two walkoff wins in one week, a seven day span that saw Cleveland lose five contests in a six game span by a single tally.

Now, Shaw and Allen seem to have returned to their norm and Zack McAllister, the other reliever Terry Francona has entrusted in the late innings is scuffling.

Our thought was the Cleveland bullpen walks too many hitters and gives up too many home runs.

Looking at statistics, that really isn’t the case.

The Tribe ‘pen has allowed 13 dingers to date, but that ranks 18th in the major leagues. As we have seen, the Cincinnati Reds lead in this dubious stat, giving up an unbelievable 33 circuit clouts to date.

Cleveland’s total is less than the vaunted Yankee bullpen, but the relief corps allowing the least bombs are the Mets and White Sox (each seven), while the Giants, Nationals, Orioles, Royals, Dodgers, and Red Sox have allowed nine.

A year ago, Tribe relievers allowed the fewest homers in the American League.

In terms of walks, the Indians’ relievers have allowed the 14th most walks (48). Again, Cincinnati’s gang of gas cans have walked a whopping 85 hitters thus far.

The five bullpens allowing the fewest free passes are Houston, the Yankees, Washington, Toronto, and Detroit.

The Indians were tied for 5th in all of baseball last season in allowing walks.

The Tribe’s bullpen is also 14th in ERA and 20th in strikeouts.

So, although there are far worse bullpens in the big leagues, there is also no doubt Cleveland’s relievers are not performing up to the standards of last season. There has been a regression.

Francona’s plan in close games in to use McAllister in the 7th, Shaw in the 8th, and Allen in the 9th. Do you know how many times he has used them that way and all three gave him a scoreless inning?

Once, on April 6th, the second game of the season and the Tribe’s first win. It hasn’t happened since.

McAllister has allowed 14 hits and struck out 16 batters in 14-2/3 innings, but he’s walked six hitters.

Shaw has given up 15 hits and fanned 19 batters in his 17 frames, but he has walked seven and allowed four homers.

Allen has allowed a scant 12 hits in 18-2/3 innings striking out 20, but he’s given 11 free passes and served up three bombs.

And Jeff Manship seems to be regressing to his career norm (5.20 ERA), giving up 14 hits and six bases on balls in 11-2/3 innings.

Perhaps it is time to give Joba Chamberlain (0.66 ERA), Tommy Hunter, and Dan Otero, who saved last night’s win some chances in higher leverage situations.

The margin for error in the American League is very slim because there aren’t any dominant teams, nor are there any bad squads.

Getting the bullpen back to the level of the last couple of years could be what puts the Indians ahead of the pack in the Central Division.

A Look At Cavs-Raptors Matchup

And then there were four…

The NBA playoffs started what seems to be eons ago with 16 teams in the tournament, and now we are down to just a quartet, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are one of those teams.

Tonight, the Cavs and Raptors open the Eastern Conference Finals at Quicken Loans Arena.

The two teams met three times in the regular season with the Raptors winning two of them, although Cleveland’s starting point guard in one of the losses was Jared Cunningham, because both Kyrie Irving and Matthew Dellavedova were out nursing injuries.

Remember that the Raptors finished one game behind Cleveland for the best record in the East, and they also have an all star backcourt in Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.

Toronto is one of the league’s best shooting teams from three point range, with the 5th best percentage in the league at 37%.

The also take a ton of free throws, ranking third in the NBA in that department. LeBron James alluded to their shooters making a lot of pump fakes and that Cleveland defenders must stand their ground.

Despite those numbers, the Raptors rank 13th in the league in scoring (the Cavs are 8th), so Toronto doesn’t play as fast as the wine and gold, something Tyronn Lue’s club will try to take advantage of, pushing the tempo.

Defensively, the Raptors rank one spot above the Cavs in points allowed per game, giving up a tenth of a point per contest less than the Cavaliers.

They do rank 5th in field goal percentage against, but they are second worst in the league in defending the three point shot.

So, if the Cavs want to get to the basket they will need to do so in transition because Toronto is going to do what the Hawks did, pack the paint, and allow their opponents to beat them from outside.

Of course, that didn’t work for Atlanta.

The Raptors are a little more physically imposing as the Hawks are, especially if Jonas Valanciunas can play in the series. If we can, they have three solid inside defenders in Valanciunas, Bismack Biyombo, and Luis Scola.

They also have DeMarre Carroll, who has given LeBron James more trouble than most defenders.

The Cavs can counter these inside presences by using Channing Frye to draw the big men away from the hoop, and you may see some Timofey Mozgov to bother the Raptors’ bigs defensively.

Remember that until he was hurt, Valanciunas was probably Toronto’s best player in the Miami series, so he can be a force.

As has been a constant during these playoffs, a big key for Cleveland defensively will be stopping penetration, particularly by Lowry. This means once again all eyes are on Irving, who has been much better in the post-season on the defensive end.

Two other factors could come into play in this series. One would be fatigue. The Raptors have played 14 games since the regular season ended, while Cleveland has played eight. With the extra intensity involved in playoff games, you have to wonder if the Cavs’ fresher legs give them an advantage.

The other thing is the satisfaction level of Toronto. Are they happy with getting to the conference finals for the first time in their history? Sometimes your goal isn’t what you think it is.

If the Cavs continue to play like they did in the first two rounds, they will be Eastern Conference champions again. There isn’t any reason why that level of play cannot continue.